EFL Students’ Reflections on Peer Scaffolding in Making a Collaborative Oral Presentation

Minh Hue Nguyen

doi:10.5539/elt.v6n4p64

Abstract

Informed by sociocultural theory and previous research on peer scaffolding in second language (L2) learning, which largely focuses on collaborative writing in English as a second language (ESL) contexts, this study investigates the ways in which Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) students provide peer scaffolding to each otherduring a collaborative presentation task and how they benefit from this experience. Data were collected from 12 participants through reflective reports and interviews. Content analysis of data suggests six categories of peer scaffolding behaviours among the students, namely workload sharing, pooling ideas and resources, technology support, peer feedback, support in answering the audience’s questions, and affective support and the benefits that the students gained from them. The findings demonstrate that collaborative pair work creates learning conditions where peers provide mutual help, which supports previous research findings. The identified peer scaffolding behaviours also show important features suggested in the literature. Although peer scaffolding has been largely studied in L2 writing, it remains a new area of research in L2 speaking discourse. This study extends the literature to this under-researched area and offers a number of pedagogical and theoretical implications based on the findings.

Highlights

In the last two decades, pair and group work has been widely used in many second language (L2) education contexts thanks to its pedagogical and theoretical values
Informed by sociocultural theory and previous research on peer scaffolding in second language (L2) learning, which largely focuses on collaborative writing in English as a second language (ESL) contexts, this study investigates the ways in which Vietnamese English as a foreign language (EFL) students provide peer scaffolding to each otherduring a collaborative presentation task and how they benefit from this experience
As an attempt to address the research gap discussed above, this study aims to understand the ways in which EFL students provide scaffolding to each other in completing a collaborative speaking presentation task and how they benefit from peer scaffolding through the course of the task

Summary

Introduction

In the last two decades, pair and group work has been widely used in many second language (L2) education contexts thanks to its pedagogical and theoretical values. From a theoretical point of view, collaborative learning is supported by a social constructivist perspective of learning, which is grounded in Vygotskian sociocultural theory of development (Vygotsky, 1978) This perspective sees learning as socially constructed through social interactions such as pair and group work. Most research on L2 scaffolding focuses on ESL settings rather than EFL contexts (see Barnard, 2002; Barnard & Campbell, 2005; De Guerrero & Villamil, 2000; Riazib & Rezaii, 2011; Storch, 2002, 2005, 2007). To support EFL teachers and learners in taking advantage of peer support in developing learners’ English speaking ability, there needs to be more research data in this area to inform practice

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